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Known for his classy café racers, Dustin Kott threw the rule book away to build a Triumph Daytona bobber for Born Free. Other highlights this week include a razor-sharp BMW K1100, a retro-fabulous Suzuki GSX-R1100, and the 2025 Triumph Speed Twin 900.
Triumph Daytona 500 by Kott Motorcycles Dustin Kott is no stranger to these pages, with a long list of satisfied clients aboard his custom café racers. But when he received an invite to exhibit a bike at the 15th running of the Born Free show, he decided to build something a little different from his usual fare.
After building a Triumph 500 café racer a while back, Dustin had some ideas churning around in his head. Using another air-cooled Triumph Daytona twin from 1969, Dustin settled on a hard-tailed, board-track-inspired bobber to showcase his long list of skills.
The rear end of the 69 frame was hacked off, with a hardtail from Factory Metal Works welded on in its place. The girder front end is completely handmade, with the top and bottom sections of the system being designed in CAD and water jet-cut from steel. There are four pivot points in front of the steering stem, creating an ingenious parallelogram system that uses a shock absorber from a mountain bike.
The fantastical adjustable clip-on bars are works of art and are integrated into the girder fork. The aluminum tank and seat were made from scratch and are based on Kott’s signature café racer style, but shrunk down to bobber-friendly proportions. The oil tank, suspended on impossibly thin custom brackets, is one of our favorite parts of the build, as is the sprung seat.
The front drum brake hub is laced to copper-plated rims with stainless steel spokes, and the rear hub comes from a Honda. The engine sports open filters on the carbs, and a custom exhaust that snakes its way around the frame’s downtube to exit at the rear wheel.
Converted to right-hand shift via custom brackets and linkages, Mr. Kott really went to town on the old Trumpet. Finally, chunky Shinko rubber was wrapped around the rims and everything was finished in black and beautiful burgundy red.
Paired with just the right amount of copper and brass details, it’s another stunning build from the uber-talented Kott Motorcycles. [Source]
BMW K1100 by Zuhal Fast Custom Let’s be honest—the BMW K1100 was never in the running to win any beauty contests. That point is driven home when you google ‘BMW K1100,’ and are bombarded with a cacophony of crazy customs instead of pictures of the factory bike.
Abdul Halim Jamaludin of Zuhal Fast Custom obviously shares our opinion. His latest creation—a 1996 BMW K1100 café racer—proves just how good a K can look.
The retro-futuristic vibes are strong with this one, but Abdul has retained gobs of BMW style. The first thing that jumps off the page is the custom alloy fairing that wraps around the front of the bike.
The factory tank remains, but the rear end has been completely reworked with a custom seat astride a CNC-machined subframe. The aggressive, waspish tail matches the custom rocker arm suspension setup and rear-set pegs.
Upside-down Suzuki GSX-R600 forks sit up front, with CNC-machined yokes holding them in place. The carbon front fender is another custom item, as are its aluminum brackets.
For the dashboard, a Motogadget Motoscope Pro gauge is flanked by Motogadget switchgear and bar-end indicators.
A single offset LED headlight peeks out from the fairing to light the way home, while a Maxxecu Mini computer manages performance; the wiring harness is all-new too. With the modifications, and the free-flowing four-into-one exhaust, the K1100 pumps out a respectable 103 hp.
We love how the futuristic rear end is paired with the aggressive curves of the fairing and the solid rear wheel cover—and how the red and white livery makes it look fast, even when it’s standing still. [Zuhal Fast | Images by Mirza Iskandar]
Suzuki GSX-R1100 by Nigel’s Creative Customs Nigel Weber of Nigel’s Creative Customs was born with oil in his blood. His father and grandfather were privateer race car drivers in Germany, so Nigel was introduced to speed at an early age. He built his first bike—a Yamaha FT50—when he was just 13 years old, and he’s been riding and racing ever since.
After a particularly disappointing weekend on his Honda 900 Bol d’Or at Spa Francorchamps, Nigel was on the hunt for a replacement race bike. While he loved the old-school endurance race bike look, the Honda just wasn’t doing it for him. Something he could hoon around a track with, quickly bolt street-legal accessories on, and ride around the street with would be ideal—oh, and it had to look good.
It just so happened that a friend had a 1989 Suzuki GSX-R1100 waiting in the wings. Even though the venerable Slingshot is 35 years old, it’s no slouch with 143 hp on tap. It’s also the perfect classic sport bike that can double as a race bike.
A set of period GSX-R750 forks were bolted on, with fresh K-Tech internals to smooth out the ride. The front fairing is stock, but the side cooling ducts are upgraded Fiberman units. The tailpiece is from a Yamaha FZR1000 and looks right at home on the Suzuki frame.
The rear shock is another K-Tech goodie, and the rear-set footpegs are from Gimbel Racing. The tires are Metzeler M7 RRs, which are legal for vintage racing in Nigel’s class.
The engine is mostly stock, save for the K&N filters, re-tuned carburetors, and a Devil four-into-one exhaust system. The final touch is the stunning blue, white, and gold livery. Inspired by Nigel’s father’s race bikes, it looks absolutely stunning. We’re huge suckers for classic GSX-Rs, and Nigel is showing everyone why. [Source]
2025 Triumph Speed Twin 900 In terms of modern retros, Triumph’s Speed Twin 900 is up there with some of the best. While it doesn’t have the outright power and aura of the larger Speed Twin 1200 (which is, in our opinion, the current pinnacle of modern retro motorcycles), it’s still dripping with modern componentry and classic style.
Triumph has just released specs on the updated 2025 Speed Twin 900, and it looks damn good. The most obvious change is the new front end. The smaller Speed Twin finally gets an upside-down set of Marzocchi forks, bringing it into line with its market competitors.
The front brakes have also been upgraded with a single 320 mm disc and a radially-mounted Triumph four-piston caliper. Dual front discs would have been nice, but we think Triumph is keeping that level of spec for the 1200. There’s also a new aluminum swingarm, connected to a pair of preload-adjustable Marzocchi piggyback shocks.
The fuel tank, fuel cap, and side covers have all been redesigned. While they are still classically styled, the design is sportier compared to the previous model. The footpegs have been relocated for more legroom, and the bench seat is also new.
That said, the subframe has been narrowed (and so has the seat), giving riders a narrower stand-over. While the engine sports an updated clutch, alternator, and sprocket covers, the internals have been left alone. The cast aluminum wheels have been redesigned too, and are now wrapped in Michelin Road Classic tires from the factory.
The headlight has been updated with a new LED design and is bolted to the forks with new brackets. A USB-C charging port has been included in the package, along with a new LCD/TFT dashboard.
Colors on offer include silver, black, and a sporty white livery with blue and orange stripes. Featuring a raft of visual and performance changes, the updated Speed Twin 900 looks like the best one yet. [Triumph Motorcycles]
